Alex de Minaur and Stan Wawrinka will meet at the Rotterdam Open and there are plenty of parallels between the two players in their early careers.
The Australian has struggled to truly challenge the upper echelon of the ATP Tour, having yet to experience a win against Jannik Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz.
De Minaur has admitted to struggles recently as he looks to win a Rotterdam Open that doesn’t feature either of the top two players in the world.
However, his next opponent, Wawrinka, has provided de Minaur with the perfect blueprint of how to take the next step in his career.
Stan Wawrinka has shown Alex de Minaur how to make the next step up
Wawrinka was in a similar position on the ATP Tour to de Minaur, before he took the next leap and started winning Grand Slams.
The Swiss star had a wretched record against the ‘big three’ before winning his first Grand Slam at the 2014 Australian Open.
The star had lost 14 consecutive times to Novak Djokovic before knocking him out of the quarter-finals in Melbourne to pick up his first win.
Stan Wawrinka or Andy Murray… who is the greater player? Let us know why below 👇
Wawrinka had a similar poor record against Rafael Nadal, before defeating him in the final of the Australian Open in 2014.
He had lost 12 consecutive matches to the King of Clay before he produced the performance of a lifetime to lift his first Grand Slam trophy.
With these two scalps under his belt, Wawrinka also managed to overcome his Roger Federer problem a year later.
Wawrinka had only beaten Federer once in 14 matches before their meeting in the Roland Garros quarter-final.
Nevertheless, Wawrinka produced a stellar display to topple his compatriot in straight sets en route to lifting the trophy.
How Stan Wawrinka can inspire Alex de Minaur
De Minaur has lost 13 consecutive matches to Sinner without picking up a single win and he also has a 0% record against Alcaraz.
The Australian has lost each of his six matches to the Spaniard, including in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.
De Minaur is 26 years old, which is two years younger than when Wawrinka first announced himself on the grandest stage.
Will Alex de Minaur finish 2026 ranked inside the top five?
Wawrinka has shown de Minaur that he too can be a late bloomer and begin to tackle the ATP Tour’s biggest stars in the latter stages of his career.
At De Minaur’s age, Wawrinka career-best performance at a Grand Slam was a semi-final appearance at the US Open, and he had also made three quarter-finals.
De Minaur’s current Grand Slam performance is incredibly similar, with the Australian reaching seven Grand Slam quarter-finals so far in his career.
Wawrinka has shown de Minaur that there is every chance he can still make the step up and lift a Grand Slam trophy before he retires.
